Shadow line guide for sawmill edgers



June 6, 1950 a. A. HORSTKOTTE SHADOW LINE GUIDE FOR SAWMILL EDGERS Filed March 25. 1948 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

June 6, 1950 G. A. HORSTKOTTE 2,510,471

' SHADOW LINE GUIDE FOR SAWMILL EDGERS Filed March 23, 1948 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 j j 4 INVENTOR. Ger/ Af/onszkohe G. A. HQRSTKOTTE SHADOW LINE GUIDE FOR SAWMILL EDGERS June 6, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 23, 1948 A /5 INVENTOR.

Gerry A. Horaikoiie BY 6 g W flf/Urflzsy/ Patented June 6, 1950 ELQFNHTD STATES! "t F ICE SHADON LINE GUEDE FGR SAWMILL EDGERS 8. Giza-inns. 1

My present inventioncomprises a Shadow line guide for sawmill edge-rs or other similar ma- Chinefi; slabs of rough timber it is desirable or necessary tobeable to determineat a glance the limits of irregularities in the edges of material to be trimmed in order that the utmost. usage may be made of the raw material; For example, in: a sawmill a log is out into rough slabs which are thentrimmed in a sawmill: edger, the edger hav i'ng laterally shift/able saws which may be moved tocut'various sizes of rectangular beams or boards from the slabs. A modern SQV: ll usually ineludes an edger having a suflicient number of shiftable saws that a plurality of slabs: may be trimmed simultaneously. edger. must be highly skilled: in order thathe may shift various saws swiftly to. accommodate the different widths of the slabs as fast as they are fed to the edger fromxthe sawing machine; Even. with a great deal of" experience an: edger often wastes more than is necessary or produces beams orboards' having sections of' bark adhering to an edge, which also means a-v great deal of wastage or. production of inferior grades of lumber; The present invention is designed: to anyopen ator with a minimum ofeX-perience and training to keep'up with the output of the sawmill with out causing an excess of edge trim: or the production ofiin-feri'or himber.

The present invention. comprises means for casting a shadow line upon thesn-rfiace ofth'e article to be trimmed, which shadow line marks the path which one-of the saws of the edger will cut through the slab. The present invention is designed to increase production by creating sharply defined, bold sl'iadows upon a plurality of slabs simultaneously, each. shadow being. always: in line with. one of the trimming saws.

'A further object of the present invention is to the shadow-casting' mechanism may be easil'yandi In many operations such as. trimming The operator of the simply accomplished. in order thatslabsofdifferent height may be accommodated. Thetpresent Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken substantially" along line 33 of Fig. 1 and looking upward;

Fig. 4- is an end view taken. from the end indi cated by theline 5-4- of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5- is a partially schematic view taken in perspective of one of the saw shifting means and one of the shadow casting means of the present invention;

Fig. 6 is an exploded view in perspective of a portion of the shadow casting means;

Fig. 7 is a view in perspective of another portion of the shadow casting means;

Fig. 8 (sheet 2) is an end view on an enlarged" scale of a portion of the shadow casting means including a light shielding device; and

Fig. 9 (sheet 3) is a schematic view'of the leverage system of the shadow casting means;

A certain type of sawmill edger is herein illustrated, but it is to be appreciated that various other types of edgers or various other workingmachines may have the presentinvention applied thereto. In the present disclosure a side frame H)- and opposed side frame I 5" support an arbor I 2 upon' which a plurality of laterally shiftable rotary saws is are mounted, the arbor'being driven through suitable means such as a pulley l4 and belt (not shown) The machine" comprises driven feed rolls it at each side of the arbor which areadapted to be rotated through means such as sprockets ii and sprocket chains (not shown). The side frames 10' and I! extend forwardly and supporttherebetween idler rolls [3'' upon which slabs or the like may be positioned while-the operator adjusts the position of the saws l3 and uponwhich the slabs may be rolled forwardly until? engagedbythe' driven. rolls H5 and cooperating presser rolls (not shown). Each saw blade- I3 is embraced by shifting means including a gooseneck 19 which is guided to move bodily sidew'ard as: by means of a guide rod 2:0. (Fl-8;. 5). Each gooseneck is pivotallyattached to the end; of a shifting lever 2! extending beneath the rolls H to; the forward: extremity of the machine and terminating in handles 22 inposition to be engaged by; the: operator. The leversin' are pivoted at ferent heights upon a crossbeam 23 so that they may be shifted one beneath another without interierence. It is to be appreciated that any other form of shifting mechanism may be substituted for the mechanical form herein disclosed provided that each such form includes a part movable laterally to the same extent as the blades such as the goosenecks I 9.

Shadow line casting means are attached to the edger herein illustrated, one such means being provided for each blade I3. Each such means comprises a first lateral link 25 attached to the gooseneck l9 through suitable means such as a ball-and-socket joint 26. The link 25 passes through an opening 21 (Fig. 1) in the side frame l and is pivotally attached to the lower end of a lever 28 which rises upwardly therefrom. The lever 28 is pivoted intermediate its ends as by means of a collar 3!! (Fig. '7) within which is mounted a self-lubricating bearing 3|. A pivot rod 32 passing through the bearing 3! supports the lever and the attached link 25, as well as a second lateral link 33 pivotally attached to the upper end of lever 28. The link 33 extends back over the edger and is pivotally attached to the upper end of a second lever 34 which projects upwardly from a rock shaft 35 mounted in bearing supports 36 supported by overhead beams 31, 38 and 39 (Figs, 1 and 3) extending laterally between longitudinal beams 40, 4| and 42. A pair of supports 45, preferably in the form of long rods, extend downwardly from rock shaft 35 above the rollers I8, the supports maintaining a shadowcasting line 46 such as a wire or string stretched between the ends of the supports, the line being at a distance beneath and parallel to the rock shaft.

Light-casting means are carried beneath the rock shaft 35, each such means comprising a pair of arms 50 (Fig. locked to the shaft 35 as by means of set screws 5| (Fig. 8) An intermediate portion of the inner surface of at least one of the arms supports a suitable light socket such as indicated at 52 and in which an incandescent bulb 53 may be mounted and supplied with current from a suitable source by wires (not shown). The bulb preferably is of the elongated type and is maintained parallel to the rock shaft 35. For best definition of the shadow the bulb is preferably of the type having an elongated axial filament, but other types will operate satisfactorily. A pair of threaded supports 55 extend outwardly and downwardly from each side of each arm 50, the supports providing means adjustably to mount a pair of light shields 56. Each shield is preferably in the form of a shallow rectangular pan with flanges provided for rigidity. Each shield is maintained in position by a pair of nuts 51 mounted upon each of the supports 55. The shields are preferably so mounted as to define a V extending above the bulb 53 and having their lower edges equidistantly spaced from a plane passing through the axis of the rock shaft and the filament of the bulb to define an open. slot parallel to the rock shaft 35 beneath the bulb 53 and above the line 46. Thus a narrow beam of light is projected downwardly and laterally across the line 46 to project a shadow onto the worksupporting table.

As seen in Figs. 2, 3 and 4, a multiple saw edger having six saws may be provided with six identical shadow casting means, three at each side of the machine. Overhead reflectors such as reflectors 60 may be mounted above the line supports and glare shields such as shields 62 may be pro- 4 vided to surround the bulbs thereby confining the light to the desired area and creating stronger beams.

Each end of the lever 28 and the upper end of lever 34 preferably comprise length-adjusting means such as by forming the major portion of the lever as a threaded tube into which a threaded eyebolt 65 (Fig. 6) is adjustably inserted. The eye 66 provides means to support a self-lubricating bearing 61 into which a pivot member 68 may be inserted. The pivot member 68 is preferably provided with a slotted head 69 by means of which the pivot may be rotated to align an opening in a reduced end thereof with an opening 10 in one arm of a clevis H attached to the horizontal link. A pin 12 may be passed through the opening Ill and the aligned opening in the pivot 68 to lock the members in assembled adjusted relation.

Fig. 9 illustrates the geometrical principles involved. In this figure a slab is mounted upon the rolls l8 and is being sliced by a saw 13 to trim off the bark edge of the slab. The ball-and-socket connection 26 is schematically indicated and the first lateral link 25 extending therefrom to the first vertical lever 28. Likewise, the other link, lever and remaining parts of the mechanism are indicated. The distance through which the blade [3 may be shifted is indicated by the letter A. Obviously the lower end of lever 28 is shifted the same distance A. The length of lever 28 is indicated by the letter L and the operating and operated arms thereof by the letters C and D. The link 33 is shifted through the distance B when the link 25 is shifted through the distance A. The length of lever 34 is indicated by the letter E and the distance from rock shaft 35 to the top of the slab is indicated by the letter F. It is obvious that, regardless of the height of the slab being trimmed, the shadow should move through the distance A in order that the line of cut may be accurately indicated. The distance S representing the distance between the ball-and-socket 26 and the top of the slab is a variable so that one lever arm such as E must be varied to accommodate it. For this reason the adjustable connectors shown in Fig. 6 are supplied. The length to which lever 34 is to be adjusted may be easily calculated for any thickness of slab. Although many other forms of expression of the formula involved may be determined, one expression of the formula is as follows:

D S E= (L-S) -D(D It will be apparent that various other modifications in arrangement and detail may be devised; for example, the length of lever 34 may remain constant while one of the arms of lever 28' may be adjusted according to tables of adjustment for various thicknesses of slab. All such modifications as come within the true spirit and scope of the appended claims are claimed as my invention.

I claim:

1. A shadow line guide for a sawmill edger or the like having a laterally shiftable working instrument, comprising a first lateral link pivotally connected to the working instrument so as to be movable coextensively therewith when the instrument is shifted laterally, a first vertical lever pivotally connected to and rising above said first lateral link, a pivot supporting said first vertical lever, a second lateral link pivoted to said first vertical lever and extending back over the instru ment, a second vertical lever pivoted to said second lateral link and extending downward toward the instrument, a rock shaft connected to said second vertical lever and rotatable thereby, a pair of supports projecting downwardly from said rock shaft, a source of light carried by said rock shaft between said supports at a distance from said rock shaft, and a shadow-casting line stretched between said supports beneath said light source.

2. A shadow line guide for a sawmill edger or the like having a laterally shiftable saw, comprising a first lateral link pivotally connected to the saw so as to be movable coextensively therewith when the saw is shifted laterally, a first vertical lever pivotally connected to and rising above said first lateral link, a pivot supporting said first vertical lever, a second lateral link pivoted to said first vertical lever and extending back over the saw, a second vertical lever pivoted to said second lateral link and extending downward toward the saw, a rock shaft connected to said second vertical lever and rotatable thereby, a pair of supports projecting downwardly from said rock shaft, 'a source of light carried by said rock shaft between said supports at a distance from said rock shaft, and a shadow-casting line stretched between said supports beneath said light source.

3. The construction set forth in claim 2 wherein at least one of said levers comprises a pair of telescoping members adjustably retained in telescoped relationship whereby the effective length of the lever may be varied.

4. The construction set forth in claim 2'; in combination with light-shielding means carried by said rock shaft and at least partially surrounding said light source, said light-shielding means defining a narrow slot parallel to said rock shaft between said light source and said'line.

5. The construction set forth in claim 2, in combination with a pair of rectangular plates carried by said rock shaft one at either side of said light source, said plates being adjustably retained in converging relationship with the lower edges thereof defining a narrow slot parallel to said rock shaft between said light source and said line.

6. In a shadow line guide for a sawmill edger or similar machine, a. light-directing support for a light source comprising a rock shaft, a pair of arms projecting downward from said rock shaft, a light source mounted between said arms at a distance from said rock shaft, members projecting laterally from each side of each arm, and a pair of shields retained on said members, said shields at least partially enclosing said light source and having straight edges defining a slot spaced from said light source.

7. In a shadow line guide light-directing means comprising a rock shaft, a pair of arms projecting downward from said rock shaft, means to mount a source of light between said arms, a light source mounted in said mounting means and spaced from said rock shaft, a pair of rectangular shields adjustably retained upon said arms in downwardly converging relationship one at each side of said light source, said shields having straight lower edges maintained equidistantly from a plane passing through said light source and the axis of said rock shaft to define a slot parallel to said rock shaft.

8. In a shadow line guide, a rock shaft, a pair of arms projecting downward from said rock shaft, means to mount a source of light between said arms, a light source mounted in said mounting means and spaced from said rock shaft, 9. pair of rectangular shields adiustably retained upon said arms in downwardly converging relationship one at each side of said light source, said shields having straight lower edges maintained equidistantly from a plane passing through said light source and the axis of said rock shaft to define a slot parallel to said rock shaft, and a line maintained parallel to said rock shaft in said plane at a point beneath said slot.

GERRY A. HORSTKOTTE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,476,238 Bump Dec. 4, 1923 1,786,925 Wiegelmann Dec. 30, 1930 1,804,764 Grant May 12, 1931 1,841,867 Wiegelmann Jan. 19, 1932 1,959,667 Grant May 22, 1934 

